


Bench Book Club

by Gloomier



Series: Tea's Tumblr Prompt Fills [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, bonding over icha icha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 20:57:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21380488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gloomier/pseuds/Gloomier
Summary: Iruka escapes from the hell that is the academy's field day, only to run into Kakashi who is also hiding.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Series: Tea's Tumblr Prompt Fills [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1529360
Comments: 6
Kudos: 154





	Bench Book Club

**Author's Note:**

> [This is a prompt fill originally posted on tumblr](https://tea-blitz.tumblr.com/post/187429481169/kakairu-and-this-prompt-happening-to-sit-next-to): Happening to sit next to each other on a park bench, reading the same book.

Iruka all but threw himself down into one of the few empty wooden benches—one sitting in the shade too—that had been set up around the training field.

The Academy was putting on its first-ever _Field Day_.

It was the worst idea ever, and Iruka full-on regretted ever allowing himself to go along with it (despite his general uneasiness with the idea to begin with). Letting seventy-some-odd students run around completing athletic challenges was a pain in the ass, and the heat of summer only worsened Iruka’s foul mood.

There were a ton of people here for the event: off-duty shinobi (observers and helpers), obnoxiously boisterous parents, and some curious civilians.

Iruka wanted to strangle everybody.

The event started around eight in the morning, and it was currently going on one in the afternoon. The kids just had their lunch, and now it was time for Iruka to have his break (and he had threatened Kotetsu with bodily harm and a month of evil pranks if he couldn't have it).

Iruka melted against the bench, he was overheated and annoyed, but the relief he felt sitting in the fortuitous blob of shade was immediate. The greatest tragedy of his life was that he was unable to do wind release jutsu; a nice breeze would have been heavenly.

In badly need of a distraction from the plane of hell he was enduring, Iruka dug out his copy of the new _Icha Icha Masquerade_ and cracked it open to where his bookmark kept his place. Mori-kun had just been approached by a dashing and mysterious man in a silver wolf mask. Iruka was dying to find out how the encounter would play out.

Admittedly, Iruka never used to like Icha Icha. He had always thought it was tasteless porn dressed up in purple prose and called literature. So it came as a surprise to him when one day he decided to see what all the hype was about. He discovered that not only did the author write a rather impressive variety of stories (featuring an equally vast combination of gender identities, sexualities, and kinks), but the writing was actually pretty good if a little cheesy at some parts.

Suffice it to say, Iruka was immediately hooked. He even had to get a new bookcase to hold his growing collection of Icha Icha novels.

So far, _Icha Icha Masquerade_ was his favorite novel. There was something to be said about the suavity of a mysterious, mask-wearing stranger.

“Where are you at in the book?”

It said a lot about Iruka’s mood and energy levels that he didn’t immediately launch himself up off the bench and murder the person next to him. Well, he might have _tried_ to murder the person next to him, but he doubted he could kill Kakashi so easily.

Some days Iruka wished he could kill the man based on his poor mission reports. He drove the mission desk workers up the wall.

Iruka looked over at him, taking note of the orange book cradled in the fingers of Kakashi’s left hand.

“Excuse me?”

Kakashi pointed at the novel in Iruka’s own hands. “Where are you at in Icha Icha Masquerade?”

“Oh, uhh Mori-kun just met the man in the wolf mask,” Iruka said. The question had his entire mood shifting.

Kakashi held his copy of Masquerade up, waving it a bit. “I just got to the part in the garden, after their first meeting—”

Iruka squawked, “No spoilers, Hatake!”

Kakashi snickered and made a placating gesture.

“How long have you been sitting here anyway?” Iruka groused, feeling a little annoyed at himself that he didn’t notice Kakashi was already sitting on the bench.

“A little while, before you showed up,” Kakashi shrugged. “I’m hiding, you see, and so I camouflaged myself.”

Iruka squinted at him; Kakashi seemed amused by something. He guessed the jounin was off-duty and had somehow got roped into the Field Day shitshow. Iruka could appreciate Kakashi’s brilliant idea, and he wouldn’t mind having someone to talk about Icha Icha with.

“Tell you what, you hide us both, I get caught up, and you can tell me who your favorite character in Masquerade is. Sound good?”

Kakashi tilted his head a little, making a show of contemplating Iruka’s offer.

“I can do that,” he said after a moment, then quickly ran through a few hand seals, with his copy of Icha Icha still in hand, and released a small burst of chakra. Iruka felt the brush of an illusion wash over him.

“But I think I can guess who your favorite character already is, Sensei,” Kakashi added once his jutsu was in place.

Iruka snorted. “Oh really? Please, tell me. I’m just _dying_ to know.”

“I’d say Mori-kun is your favorite character. He’s also a school teacher and shares a lot of the same qualities you do.” Kakashi said, and the cloth hiding his face shifted. He was smirking.

“You got a list of my supposed qualities now, do you?” Iruka asked pointedly.

Kakashi shrugged instead of a real answer. 

Maybe it was the heat playing tricks on him, but Iruka swore he could see a blush on the one-quarter of Kakashi’s face that wasn’t hidden. And he most certainly enjoyed the way the question made the jounin shift (which honestly translated into him squirming) awkwardly. Everyone loved Mori-kun, and Iruka did too. He was a good, well-balanced character and Iruka was flattered by Kakashi’s subtle compliment.

“Mori is everyone’s favorite, but I think I’m more partial toward mysterious men in masks. There’s just something about them that drives me wild.” Iruka smiled.

He _definitely_ enjoyed the way Kakashi’s breath hitched.


End file.
